What do you feed your rabbit?

[TheBunz]

I have read some vegetables are ok and then another article will say it's not good to feed all the time. It's just confusing. I just wanna know if I'm feeding her the right stuff. My Flemish giant doe is 3 mos old. I feed her plain kaytee forti diet pellets, unlimited. She gets 2 large handfuls of Timothy hay (one in morning, one in evening). Every day or every other day I feed her about 2 very large romaine leaves, 2 leafy branches of kale (with stalks removed), 2-3 cherries with pets removed, 2 baby carrots, and usually a couple bites of apple or banana.
She really enjoys kale but some articles say it's fine and others say only once a week....
What do you guys feed your bunnies?

 

[Watermelons]

Too much fruit. Fruit should be a light treat only.
Hay should be unlimited.
Pellets can be unlimited while the bun is young but once their about 6months they can be reduced to 1/4cup per 5lbs body weight.
I would limit the kale as well. Its too high in protein and calcium to give too much too often, more so for adults.
Other leafy veggies and herbs are great. Introduce slowly to avoid GI upset

 

[majorv]

I can't help with the veggies, but agree that fruit has a lot of sugar in it and should be given as occasional treats. Flemish are a giant breed and will continue growing longer than other smaller breeds, so you could continue the unlimited pellets for longer, but watch her weight and don't hesitate to start limiting pellets some if you think she's getting overweight. Flemish can be prone to sore hocks and being overweight will make it worse.

 

[Aki]

Yep, I second what was said - fruits are only a treat, whereas vegetables should be given everyday (2/3 leafy greens, 1/3 of roots / hard vegetables). I'm very surprised to see often people saying that they give X and Y everyday, there are tons of vegetables out there and it's better to buy different things regularly to cover all the vitamins and stuff. As an example, this week my rabbits get 3 different sorts of lettuce (romain, batavia and oakdleaf), spinaches, chicory, parsley, mint, turnip, Jerusalem artichoke and rutabaga (not all of those everyday, I change the menu at least a little everyday). Last week they got strawberry leaves, dandelions, raspberry leaves, carrots, carrot tops, parsnip tops, parsnip, celeriac, pepper and batavia.
I go to the market once a week. Of course, depending on the season, it's sometimes harder to find lots of different stuffs - I really like to see spring coming, when you can find young carrots and parsnip with leaves again but rabbits can eat lots of winter vegetables too ^^.
Everything about nutrition is in here:
http://rabbit.org/category/care/diet/
You'll also find a handy list of vegetables you can give to your rabbit - I checked it a lot when I first got Aki because I was terrified of accidentally poisoning her ^^

 

[TheBunz]

Thanks guys. I'm not worried about her being overweight right now as she seems a little thin. I guess it's just because she's growing. I don't have a whole lot of rabbits to feed so I buy different stuff and change it out when it's gone so nothing goes bad. Her hay is unlimited I just refresh 2 times a day because she won't eat it after its been sitting a while. And I'll cut back on the fruit. She just loves it haha

 

[loumatt]

You could also check out https://www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/safe-foods-for-rabbits for a list of vegetables, fruits, and herbs that are safe for your bunny. I picked up some basil and parsley yesterday and surprisingly my lil bun likes it more than his strawberries.

 

[TheBunz]

Aww I'll have to try some herbs with Lucky. She has eaten everything I've given her. I tried snow peas the other day and she liked those ok

 

[loumatt]

Uhhh-dorable.

 

[ts786]

I would drop the FortiDiet in favor of a different food. Kaytee has a history of making products that are not necessarily made with rabbit health being the biggest priority. Pellet-wise, you should NOT offer unlimited, but rather a measured amount. For a Flemish, the quantity will obviously need to be more than what is normally fed to a growing rabbit, and it may be worth asking other owners what the correct ratio is for a rabbit that grows that size. A juvenile food mixed with an adult food may be a better choice over an adult food only. Most juvenile formulas have alfalfa in them. Given the size that Flemish giants get to (and how quickly they get there), my guess is that they need more calcium while growing than smaller rabbits, but I am not 100% of this.

The one thing you do want to offer in unlimited supply (in addition to water) is hay. You want a very large portion of the diet to be hay, and I am talking like 60% or more, and the more the better. Between the hay and a quality pellet food, they provide a pretty complete dietary intake, and, in my personal opinion, vegetables are far less important. I've noticed that when rabbits consume massive quantities of hay, overall GI function tends to run well. YMMV

 

[TheBunz]

I know kaytee isn't the best, but alfalfa is the first ingredient and the protein level is the highest I could find in a pellet at 16%. Flemish should have as close to 18% protein as possible so I bought it with that in mind.
It also has soy and corn products lower on the ingredient list than other food I saw. I know those 2 are just used as filler in all animal foods and it's not necessary for any animal. What pellet do you use?

 

[bright_eyes]

Oxbow (you can find it in most pet stores) and Sherwood Forest (online ordering only) are good brands.

 

[TheBunz]

Oxbow (you can find it in most pet stores) and Sherwood Forest (online ordering only) are good brands.

I wanted to get oxbow but I thought it had too many bad ingredients. Sherwood forest looks awesome though thank you!

 

[Aki]

I agree with you, Oxbow has a good reputation and their hay is amazing but their pellets aren't that great. Great pellets are hard to come by... I've been using Jr Farm grainless complete for about 6years with no problems. They are the "cleanest" I've ever found with nothing except herbs, apple and vegetables except for vitamins:

"Ingredients: Timothy grass, orchard grass, meadow grass, plantain, red clover, Meadow fescue, lady's mantle, pea flakes, diced carrots & beans flakes, parsnip cubes, peppermint leaves, fennel, apple cubes, flax seed, dandelion leaves, beetroot cubes, nettle, chamomile flower, black cumin, vitamins. "

You can only find it online, at least in France.

 

[bright_eyes]

I agree with you, Oxbow has a good reputation and their hay is amazing but their pellets aren't that great. Great pellets are hard to come by... I've been using Jr Farm grainless complete for about 6years with no problems. They are the "cleanest" I've ever found with nothing except herbs, apple and vegetables except for vitamins:

"Ingredients: Timothy grass, orchard grass, meadow grass, plantain, red clover, Meadow fescue, lady's mantle, pea flakes, diced carrots & beans flakes, parsnip cubes, peppermint leaves, fennel, apple cubes, flax seed, dandelion leaves, beetroot cubes, nettle, chamomile flower, black cumin, vitamins. "

You can only find it online, at least in France.

I agree, I still recommend it for the sake of consistency and it is better and more readily available than most pet store brands.

But I feel like with more research out there on what bunnies should be eating, Oxbow hasn't kept up as much as other brands.

 

[ts786]

I know kaytee isn't the best, but alfalfa is the first ingredient and the protein level is the highest I could find in a pellet at 16%. Flemish should have as close to 18% protein as possible so I bought it with that in mind.
It also has soy and corn products lower on the ingredient list than other food I saw. I know those 2 are just used as filler in all animal foods and it's not necessary for any animal. What pellet do you use?

Sherwood.

I fed my last rabbit Oxbow for about 7 years. I started with Oxbow for my current rabbit as that is what the shelter fed her, but then switched to Sherwood. A few months ago, I asked how much better Sherwood was and if the higher price was justifiable, but there were not a huge amount of owners with direct recent experience with both, so I decided to give Sherwood a try.

The pellets are unusually fresh, and my rabbit goes ballistic over them. Over the last few months of feeding Sherwood, I've noticed faster nail growth, what I consider to be a more brilliant coat, the disappearance of a single eye irritation that she supposedly had her whole life, and extremely consistent gut motility & gut function. During the period of shedding when rabbits frequently consume a lot of hair grooming, I saw absolutely zero change in gut function and the pellets maintained the normal characteristics, easily passing the hair without problem (as opposed to smaller pellets due to the hair.) Given how nails and gut function say a lot about health, I'm inclined to say that Sherwood has real health benefits over already premium foods.

No offense to Oxbow...they make a lot of good products. But based off of what I have observed, it appears that the people who make Sherwood have a better understanding of rabbit dietary needs. Further, since Sherwood contains a higher quantity of alfalfa hay than most adult rabbit pellets, I have to conclude that combing alfalfa with a large intake of timothy, even for adult rabbits, has health benefits (otherwise they wouldn't use it as this food contains absolutely zero ingredients that are useless or harmful for rabbit health.) YMMV.

 

[ts786]

I agree, I still recommend it for the sake of consistency and it is better and more readily available than most pet store brands.

But I feel like with more research out there on what bunnies should be eating, Oxbow hasn't kept up as much as other brands.

I agree. Oxbow seems to be moving in the direction of many other Makers, which is the whole natural and organic kick. While this organic kick is driving the price up, it doesn't necessarily mean better food. In some cases, it's nothing more than paying more for less.

The fat/protein/carb composition may still be based on dated nutritional research, and there are some foods that, regardless of whether they are organic or not, have absolutely zero health benefit (and, in some cases, have health risks.) Some makers lean so heavily on this that they don't even bother discussing things like amino acids or what types of beneficial fatty acids the food contains. Heck, an improper fiber content, or an incorrect source of fiber, can cause overeating and all sorts of GI issues...yet Makers are more excited to blast stupid advertising that ignores all of this as if to say, "these grains are good for rabbits because they are organic!!!" :facepalm:

 

[Aki]

I don't have any personal experience with Sherwood but the composition looks OK. The fibers are around 24% which is good. The only thing I don't like is the addition of salt. There is no need for it, really. But I guess the concerns vary regarding how much pellets you actually give. I mean, Aki eats maybe five or six pellets a day (Tybalt eats barely more) just as a way to bring her extra vitamines and minerals in case an area isn't covered by her vegetables (I'll admit it, I try to give five different vegetables every week and to change the menu from week to week but I don't look up all the nutriments to make sure the vegetables cover everything - it's just too much work ^^').

 

[TheBunz]

Well I contacted Sherwood people directly and talked to them about my personal concerns about my rabbit and the ingredients and I was extremely satisfied with their customer service and their answers. They said they don't put in synthetically added vitamins and instead use the vitamins already present in rabbit safe ingredients which I thought was cool.

 

[MaryAnne]

I've always used Oxbow.

 

[ts786]

I don't have any personal experience with Sherwood but the composition looks OK. The fibers are around 24% which is good. The only thing I don't like is the addition of salt. There is no need for it, really. But I guess the concerns vary regarding how much pellets you actually give. I mean, Aki eats maybe five or six pellets a day (Tybalt eats barely more) just as a way to bring her extra vitamines and minerals in case an area isn't covered by her vegetables (I'll admit it, I try to give five different vegetables every week and to change the menu from week to week but I don't look up all the nutriments to make sure the vegetables cover everything - it's just too much work ^^').

Why is salt considered unnecessary? Obviously rabbits lose salt at a much slower pace than us sweaty people, and are presumably more efficient at recycling their reserves, but I was not aware that the sodium content in vegetables alone is considered sufficient?

Truth be told I've moved in the direction of only extremely limited vegetables as, despite being advocated by many rabbit organizations, (and while I do not think rabbit safe vegs are harmful or anything) I am not convinced they are necessary for health. I'd say they comprise less than 5% of the current diet, and so most of the nutrients are coming from the pellet food. I would guess I am currently at about 80% of the diet being timothy hay and several other types of hay in smaller quantities. I think their digestive systems are even more efficient at extracting (and producing) nutrients than is currently believed. It took quite a while for the realization of the complex nature of a rabbit's digestive tract enabling them to extract far more minerals from nutrient-poor food than most other mammals can. I'd really like to see more research in this area and especially in regards to overall gut function versus types and quantity of vegetables.